The Musical Box

Last’s week off-hours listening included…

T Bone Burnett: Tooth of Crime - Some of the most lavishly decadent music this side of Tom Waits, Tooth of Crime sets free songs Burnett penned for a Sam Shepard play of the same name nearly 12 years ago. Accompanied by a “torture chamber orchestra” that includes guitar renegade Marc Ribot and ex-wife Sam Phillips, the album boasts epic pop sweeps (Kill Zone) and percussive doomsday reveries (Here Come the Philistines).

Brad Mehldau Trio: Live - The only thing obvious about this two-disc set cut in October 2006 at New York’s fabled Village Vanguard is the album title. Captured in a seemingly less pensive mood than usual, pianist Mehldau presents the Soundgarden hit Black Hole Sun with a stride lyrical enough to make you think Vince Guaraldi was at the keys. Similarly, a nearly 15 minute take on John Coltrane’s Countdown emphasizes the trio’s keen swing.

Jefferson Airplane: Jefferson Airplane at the Family Dog - The latest in a series of archival concert recordings, Family Dog places the Airplane on home turf in San Francisco in September 1969. The music is scrappy and dark, with Volunteers material sounding righteously ragged. But the jams that open and close the album, the latter of which brings Jerry Garcia to the fold to foil with Jorma Kaukonen, are way, way cool.

Allan Holdsworth: All Night Wrong - An extraordinary but unflashy guitarist with a solid fusion sound and modest prog rock leanings, Holdsworth has been largely invisible in recent years save for the this efficient sounding concert recording from 2002 cut with two longtime pals: bassist Jimmy Johnson and one-time Frank Zappa drummer Chad Whackerman. The guitar tone is wiry, elastic, rockish and wily as all get out.

Larry Coryell: Private Concert - An altogether different guitar record by another fusion giant caught in a solo acoustic mood. Despite the title, this is a studio date. But the sense of intimacy is strong, from the opening, bluesy gusts of Sonny Rollins’ Sonnymoon for Two to the neatly crafted, multi-tracked “duets” Coryell plays with himself on a suitably warm sounding Hot House and a summery take on Dizzy Gillespie’s Brother K. A delight.